[BaselWorld] Glashütte Original.

I was impatiently awaiting, after 2 years of great achievements by GO (PanoInverse, Céramique, Chrono Sixties, Panomatic, Counter, le Marine Chronometer), their new productions.

 

We were welcomed by Rene and Christina. The flagship novelty this year is the «Tourbillon Sixties», a way to complete a line which symbolizes the revival of GO? A way to end this superb collection which started with the «Chrono Sixties»?

 

 

With the unveiling of the «Seventies» series, any conjecture is possible.

 

 

This watch is perfect in terms of design, the Flying Tourbillon of the Caliber 9-3 («Konektion», I know what I mean) is outstandingly off-beat, with its galvanized tourbillon’s framework, which brings some fancy to the luxurious nature of the piece.

 

 

 

The back is perfect as well, despite the fact that the purists could deplore the presence of the oscillating weight: one would expect this kind of piece to be «manual winding», but since the design is flawless, it’s fundamentally a pleasure.

 

 

 

The cushion shaped case, without reaching the pure aesthetic of the Radiomir, produces a beautiful visual effect. Its size must be around 43mm (the GO press-kits don’t give any accurate technical information), whereas the thickness of the Calibre 93 is unnoticeable (nearly 8mm). The watch is a success in every feature, even the date display is perfectly located in the top part of the dial, balancing the 1 minute Flying Tourbillon’s aperture on the opposite side.

To end the comparison with Panerai, the finishing of the domed sapphire crystal is beautiful, it seems to be anti-reflective on both sides; At any rate, I didn’t have the difficulties met with other domed crystals in trying to take good pictures.

 

 

Where things heat up, is in the price: at around 100k€, one could afford far more complicated tourbillons, such as the «Rotating Tourbillon» from Panerai.

In fact, the fundamental problem of this watch is the ill defined positioning of GO, sometimes in mid-range, sometimes upper-market, sometimes falling behind Lange, sometimes far ahead (I’m thinking of the superb PanoInverse or of the awesome Marine Chronometer); The message is not clear from a connoisseur standpoint, in so far as it becomes difficult for GO to propose tourbillons at such a price.

 

 

 

 

Notwithstanding this problem of pricing, the «Tourbillon Sixties» is an outstanding aesthetic success.

 

 

The other novelty worthy of note is the Senator Automatic: fitted with an Automatic Caliber 39-59, set at 28800v/h with a 40h PR, it features one of the best price/quality ratios of all BaselWorld.

The watch is 40mm across, with printed roman numerals, blue steel hands and above all a beautiful silver dial.

 

 

 

 

The silver dial springs into focus when fitted on a stainless steel watch worth «only» 5000€, achieving 80% of what Lange or Vacheron offer for a price 2.5 times higher, regarding the Caliber as well the dial (the dial fitted on the Senator is very nice, but a little less than the ones found on the Vacheron/Lange). Thanks to GO for having the courage to make waves in the Haute Horlogerie market, where entry prices are usually around 12k€.

 

 

 

In my opinion, this timepiece was designed for watch-lovers not wealthy enough to go for precious metal.

The Senator is available in rose gold, but the price is comparable to those of the competitors, whereas the watch suffers from a level of quality slightly behind Vacheron/Lange.

 

 

Finally, let’s take a look at the brand new «Seventies Panorama Date», which starts the 70’s line at GO.

 

The watch is undoubtedly 70’s, its styling is a mix between Seiko and the ex GDR productions, but with an updated manufacturing level and GO quality.

 

 

 

 

Sincerely, as much as the 60’s line had enthralled me, this 70’s leaves me nonplussed, even though everything is well designed, especially the wristband, which can be accurately adjusted to any minor change in the size of wrist (heat, sport, weight variations, etc.). The watch features the very efficient Caliber 39-47, the dial is superb, with matching indicators.

I was talking about it with Franck Geelen from «Monochrome»: he really liked this piece, which visibly generates marked reactions, it is definitely a success from this perspective.

 

 

Let’s quickly review the different versions of the pieces already presented:

 

The «Senator Diary»: it makes up for the main flaw of last year’s model, whose dial seemed to me to be too matte; On this new version, the gray Ruthenium dial is magnificent, and should delight the lovers of this 31days Alarm complication, all the more so that even the price went down significantly, since the new version is available in stainless steel as well as in rose gold .

 

 

 

The «Senator Perpetual Calendar»: a dressed-up version of the Navigator Ceramic, rose gold, roman numerals, magnificent gold moon, this finishing better suits the QP GO dial layout.

 

 

 

 

The «Senator Navigator WorldView»: a Navigator fitted with an adjustable internal time-zone ring.

 

 

 

 

 

I was sincerely disappointed , after the splendid pieces presented at BaselWorld, where GO heightened the level of the SG, it seems to me that the brand somewhat got back into the mediocrity of the group.

GO develops pre-existing models into new versions, keeping a good level of quality, but without the touch of eccentricity and of creativity that had made the previous versions successful.

Fortunately, the «Tourbillon Sixties» for the wealthy fans of GO, the stainless steel «Senator Diary» for the lovers of Alarm watches and the «Senator Automatic» for the more modest great-horology enthusiasts, ensured the success of GO at this event.

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